Chronicles of the Half-Bloods: The Box of Hope
by Epictwist
Summary: With the Gaia awakening and Percy Jackson disappeared, you might think Camp Half-Blood has it's work cut out, but evil lurks in many forms, and a new team of heroes is gathered to take on another threat. Can Damian, Tony, Kayla, and Mary take on this new threat, or are we all doomed anyways? Rated K , because I'm confident that this story will not be completely brutal.


**A/N: First thing's first. I am NOT Riordan. Percy Jackson universe was (probably) created solely by him. The characters aren't even mine. These characters were created by cartoonprincess, and to her, I am in extreme debt, for I have just a wee bit of trouble thinking of my own things. But once I get things going, I'm like the Juggernaught, *****! **

**Events take place soon after Jason and his buddies return to Camp Half-Blood.**

Damian Benson's POV

"Benson!" Is all I hear before I feel a smack on the back of my head.

"Hey! What's up?" I ask. I already know who it is.

"What were you doing with that girl last night?" An angry blonde shouts at me. Alicia. Athena cabin. Such a cutie. But then again, aren't all the demi-chicks?

"What girl?" I ask in the cutest voice I can manage.

"Um, maybe the one that you were making out with?" Alicia's voice continues to grow. My cute voice isn't working. Oh, well, looks like it's time to confess.

"Who, Mary? From Apollo cabin? Dang she's got a good pair of legs on her. So smooth…" I say with a grin, which is soon met by a smack. "You're a jerk." Alicia says through gritted teeth. "I hate you."

"Mm. Join the club. I hear they meet on Mondays at the rock climbing wall. There's a rumor going around that their cupcake social is coming up soon." The smart remark is met with another smack to the face. She stomps off mumbling something about 'it being over.' How adorable.

With that out of the way, I find that I'm once again bored. It won't be too much longer before the hunt calls my name however. "Benson!" I hear again. I grin. This one isn't a girlfriend.

"Ms. McLean." I say. I look at her figure. She looks nice, but being a half-brother, that would just be wrong. Yes, even I have standards.

"Still breaking hearts?" "Everyday." I reply. "It's my hobby. You should try it." Piper raised an eyebrow disapprovingly. "Thanks, but I'm just fine with Jason."

"Well you know what they say. Once you have Jay Grace of Percy Jack, you know there ain't never goin' back." I say with a smile on my face. "That, Benson, is the worst joke I've ever heard." Piper scowls.

I laugh. "I thought it was kind of slick. Hey, speaking of Jay Grace and Percy Jack, have they found fish-man yet?" "No." Piper said. "It's putting Chiron on edge. A lot on edge. Annabeth says she's never seen him so put out. And Annabeth…" She sighs. "I don't really know the guy, but from what I can tell from her reaction of him disappearing, he was a real sweet heart."

"Eh. He was okay, I guess. But to tell you the truth, I still rather being a heart-breaker than being a sweet-heart." I say. Pipers back to the look. The one that says 'you're an idiot.'

"Chiron wants you to go to the oracle. I'm thinking a mission." She says flatly.

"Sweet." I reply. "That Rachel chick is pretty cute."

"I'm pretty sure he wants you to put on a shirt though." She says. I look down at my body and smile with pride.

"Are you sure she wants me to put a shirt on?"

"Seriously, Benson. Get a shirt on." Piper walks away with that. Probably to see that Jason guy. I run back to my cabin and grab me an orange shirt, pausing only to reflect on my goddess-given body. I smile and wink at myself, before pulling the shirt on. "Ooh, kill 'em." I say.

I waltz out of my cabin and make my way to Rachel's place. "A mission, eh?" I think to myself.

Kayla Martins's POV

Clarisse gives me that snotty look. "What are you lookin' at?" I question.

"A blonde too dumb to move." She spits.

"You callin' me a dumb blonde?"

"Yeah. And there ain't nothing you gonna do about it." She grins.

I sigh and reach for the iron pen in my back pocket. I pull it out and it glistens in the sunlight, smooth and shiny. I give the button on the top a little click, and with a few mechanical whirs, it lengthened to a spear, five feet in length, shining like silver with a bronze tip. "I think my little buddy has something different to say." I say.

Clarisse snaps her fingers and some meat-head with no hair plods next to her. He smiles. "This is Alexei." Clarisse says, putting her hand on his broad shoulder. "He would like to have a talk with you and your little toothpick." Aleixi pulls out a large ax. I don't mean large, that would be like saying the Grand Canyon is pretty good sized. This ax looked like it was retired from chopping Great Sequoias.

"Crap." I mouth. Alexei laughs. "Let's dance." I grip my spear with both hands.

"Let's."

The first thing I feel is a kick, right to the stomach. I fly at least ten feet from where I'm standing. I waste zero time in getting up. I instantly pop right back up, taking a more defensive stance. "C'mon, muffin!" I yell at Alexei, who's laughing. "If that's what you call a kick, I'm pretty sure I saw your mom on "I Was Pregnant and Didn't Know It!" Okay. Yeah. I need to work on my jokes. I don't even think that's the name of the show. Alexei is still laughing his lungs out. He bends forward to catch his breath. His mistake. I fly towards him, whacking my spear against his back. He falls on all fours. He's lost his breath and he's choking for air.

"You okay, muffin?" I ask sweetly." I can almost fear the anger dripping off him. When he pops back up, he doesn't even have his sequoia chopper. He swings at me with his bare fists. I instantly reply by blocking his attacks with my spear. Punch after punch I can swear I hear bones breaking, but he's not even slowing down. Soon he starts to send in kicks, but those two are ineffective. Now that I start seeing his pattern, I calculate his timing and I figure the best time to attack. Now. He swings and I duck, going for the back of his knees. He bends quickly and is now kneeling. I jump and kick him to the ground, almost immediately ramming my spear into the ground next to his face. He knows not to try and get back up.

I hear clapping and instantly look up. "Very nice, Kayla Martins, daughter of Ares." Clarisse smiles. "Welcome to the family."

I smile. "Was that some sort of initiation?"

"It was a real test of your blood. Congrats. You pass. But don't think that's the end." She says in an almost threatening voice.

"I know it's not the end." I say almost as threateningly. Was that the right thing to say? Clarisse nods, so I guess that's a good sign. "Martins!" A booming voice calls. I look on a hill. There, a tall figure stands, half man and half horse. "Er, hi, Chiron!" That's a greeting to your superior, right?

"Don't get to comfy, Ms. Martins. We need you at the oracles cave. ASAP."

"Roger!" I say again. "Um, Clarisse?" I ask.

"Yeah, blonde?"

"Oracle?" I say in a confused voice.

She sighs. "Can someone show blonde to Rachel's place?"

Tony Armello's POV

Alicia looks put out. It's bad enough Annabeth mopes around the place. Now two Athena kids are down-hearted. I decide to go and talk to Alicia about it. "What's up, Alicia?" I ask. Alicia looks up at me. "Guy's are jerks." She simply puts it. "Well, that hurts, sis." I say.

"Well, not brothers. I mean other males. _They_ are the jerks. Thanks for being my brother, Tony..." She sighed.

"So your boyfriend, Damian? He dumped you, no?"

"No. I dumped him. He was making out with some chick from Apollo cabin the other night."

"Oh. And when you found out, that's when you dumped him?" I deduce.

"Yep."

"And so now, you don't like him."

"Exactly." She snorts. "Gah! I just want to… you know-" she says through gritted teeth, miming choking some one around their neck.

"Take a little bit of revenge?" I ask.

"Yeah, you know?"

"Of course I know. I'm Italian." I smile.

"Oh, and that makes sense." She rolls her eyes.

I smile even deeper, "Italians are the champions at holding grudges. Just look at Romeo and Juliet. Those two families were fighting for generations. After a while they even forgot what they were fighting about. And they were Italian."

She smiles. "Yeah, Tony, I think they were Spanish."

"No. They were definitely Italian." I reply.

She chuckles. "Alright, 'Italian Master of Grudge Holding', what do I do about this guy?" Alicia asks.

I think, "Well, you could do what ma does when someone cheats on her." I say.

"What's that?" Alicia lifts an eyebrow.

"Well," I start, "Like she did to my dad. He made him go insane."

"Whoa." Alicia eyebrows both raise, her mouth growing to a small O shape.

"Yeah. He was put in an asylum before I was born. He had two or three siblings but they all died somehow, too."

Alicia nods. "I think gods are the grand masters in grudge holding."

"Yes. And so fickle, also. One moment, they are mad at their partner for cheating on them, the next they go looking for more prospects. Not really fair, is it?" I ask Alicia.

She shakes her head no, then speaks, "So, what you're saying is that I should make Damian go insane?"

"Or something along those lines." I say. The door to the cabin opens and Annabeth walks through. "Tony." She calls.

"Yes? What?" I respond.

"Rachel needs you at the cave. Says it's a mission."

"Right now?"

"Immediately. It's vital, trust me." She looks extremely serious. Then again, with giants running around wildly, this is the time to be extremely serious.

"Right. I'll follow you." I say.

Mary Solstice's POV

"Maybe because I'm bad at it?" I say. "Like, really, really, bad. You don't know how bad. I am so bad, I could not hit the broadside of a barn if I was inside the barn." I say, trying my best to squirm my way out of doing this stupid thing. Will just rolls his eyes.

"For gods' sake. You were born for this type of thing. It's in your blood as a daughter of Apollo."

"Yeah," I say, "I'm pretty sure there was a mix up with the signs or whatever you call them. I think I'm much more of a Hermes type of gal."

"Really?" Will looks unimpressed. "Take the stinking bow, aim it at the target and shoot. I promise on the River Styx your going to hit it." Will hands me a bow. I take it and hold it like a dirty diaper. "Here's the arrow." He said.

I take it in my other hand. "Okay. Here goes." I say. I put the arrow on the string. What's that called? Notching? Anyway, I pull back as far as I can and I aim at the target with one eye. I let loose the weapon. It soars quickly, almost a flash, but somehow I see it move in slow motion. At first it looks like it's right in target. Then, it sort of wavers and starts going its own way. It finally finds it's mark in a tree, which turns into a druid, looking down at the arrow lodged in it's leg.

"You're going to Hades, you lying son of a sun god." I say. The druid looks in my direction. It also looks amazingly angry. It looks hulk-type angry.

"You are dead." Will murmurs. I quickly throw the bow at him and point as if it's his fault. The druid points it's finger at me and then slowly drew her other arm across her neck, thumb pointing out like a knife. "You better run." Will tells me.

Needless to say, I take his advice quickly, looking behind and seeing a druid whose leaves have caught on fire with all the hate she has for me. You'd think something with a piece of metal in it's leg would maybe be slow, but apparently, the laws of nature don't apply to nature spirits. Next thing you know, she's in hot pursuit, and I'm sprinting to the nearest cabin to find some sort of shelter.

"Run, Mary, run!" Will shouts behind me.

"Can't he see I'm running as fast as I can?" I ask no one in particular. I glance back a second time. Angry-druid is right behind me, getting faster and faster. "Jeez, what are you?" I keep on running, but I'm going to run out of steam pretty soon. I decide that the closest cabin will have to do. Athena cabin. They should get a kick out of this. I ran through the door and shut it behind me. All the Athena kids jump at my presence. Almost no one go into the only begotten Athena cabin, so my stumbling into it pretty much surprises the Hades out of them.

"What are you doing in our room?" One asks.

"Er, well, see, there's this druid and-" I start, though I'm soon interrupted by a boom. The door comes off it's hinges and the druid barrels through the cabin, running over everything in it's path, and through the wall on the opposite side of it's entry.

"What was that?" A concerned looking Athena kid asked.

"That was The Juggernaught." I said.

"Hey, don't I know you?" A camper asked. She did look familiar. "Are you Mary? From Apollo?"

Crap-I-dee-doo-da. Wasn't she the girl who was dating Damian.

"There is a slight possibility that I may be, in fact some person who is in the Apollo cabin and called Mary ." I say carefully.

The girl cracks her knuckles. "It's Italian Grudge time." She says.

"Um. Yeah, I don't know what that is… so…" I say, edging toward the new door.

Suddenly, the Athena girl pulls out two short sticks and starts to twirl them.

"I'm going to go now." I finish my previous sentence. I run out the door as she starts to chase me.

Then something horrible happens. The druid starts coming in hot at twelve o'clock, charging like a train. Either in front or in the back of me I had angry chicks ready to make sure I would have an all expense paid vacation to the infirmary. I stopped dead in my tracks and bent down, ready to feel the crushing of two hell-bent creatures.

Then all of the sudden, something big grabbed my shirt and lifted me away. The person groaned, picking up my whole weight and putting me down on what felt like a horse. "What on earth is happening here?" It said. It sounded like Pierce Brosnan with a hangover. I opened my eyes and saw the back of a very hairy head. As I looked down, I say a completely regular human torso turning into a completely regular horse body.

"Oh, Chiron." I said, letting go of my breath, "Thank gods you were right there. I was about to be creamed."

"I asked what is going on?" He said in his gruff voice. The druid pointed to her wound and than up at me. Chiron turned his head, trying to look at me. "You shot her with an arrow?" He asked.

"Well, not on purpose!" I defended. "Well, what about you?" Chiron asked, pointing at the Athena chick.

"She stole my boyfriend." She growled. Chiron planted his palm on his face and sighed. He shook his head slowly. " Oh, for pities sake..." He moaned slightly. "Go back to your places. I will handle Miss Solstice." He said. The two slowly turned and walked away.

"Thanks, Chiron. I owe you-" I said.

Chiron lifted his hand, "Miss Solstice." He says gruffly. You have been summoned to the oracle's cave. Come with me immediately."

"Ooh! A mission! My very own mission?" I gasp, excited beyond belief.

"Yes. Now get off my back." Chiron mumbles.

"Figuratively or literally?" I ask.

"Both, if it suits you." Chiron sighs.

**A/N: Well! That was fun wasn't it? I especially enjoyed writing Mary Solstice's character. This may very well **

**be my favorite story I am writing. Know what else would be supreme? REVIEWS! That would make my day. Constructive criticism is welcome as well as any ideas, for, as you can see, ideas help me out A LOT.**


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